A little book, Deeper than words, by Brother David Steindl-Rast was given to Margaret and to me a five years ago by our friend Marla Sevens.  I keep the book handy so I can reread parts of it, and the most often reread section of the book is the foreword written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  As I listened a few days ago to CNN’s report of the Republican and Democratic Caucuses and Primaries, I needed to read or reread something…anything that might reassure me that folks can accomplish more good with gentleness and consideration for “the other” than with a fiercely constructed litany of ideas considered wrong, whatever wrong means in whatever context. I reread the Foreword the Dalai Lama wrote for Deeper than words.  

The first paragraph:  “Wherever we live and whatever faith we uphold or none, we share the desire to live life to its fullest, to better ourselves and the lives of our loved ones.  And wherever they originally arose, all the world’s major religious traditions are similar in having the potential to help human beings live at peace with one another, with themselves, and with our natural environment.”

Deeper than words should be required reading by all candidates for political office… anywhere in the world.